Help!
by Peacetoearthbeyond
Summary: This story is about a hate crimes and homophobia at it's worst. It is meant to be disturbing. The point of the story is show how people are hurt by homophobia and explore new parts of the characters which are rarely touched in the show.
1. Chapter 1

**CH1**

Will turned and gave his date a goodbye kiss the through the open window of the car. "You sure you can get home from here honey?"

"Yes. It not worth trying to get through that intersection, and it's only a block."

"Do you want me to sit here and wait for you?" Jay asked.

"Why?" Will answered. He probably would have accepted the ride, if only convenience sake but he didn't really want Jay to know what building he lived in. They'd been set up on a blind date by his boss, so he felt obligated to accept, and the date hadn't been especially bad. It was just that he seemed a little clingy, and Jay was Jack with red hair. Well a little less of a party person, and a little more of a reader. He just was just a little young and more feminine than Will's taste. He had the feeling that was mutual. Will generally liked more muscular men, and people would mistake Jay for his sister. Jay seemed strangely right for Jack though. _Maybe I should set them up_, Will thought._ Jay, Jack, Jack, Jay… No, it would be too confusing,_ he concluded

Will kept walking, enjoying the relative quite and sense of life the city streets had at this hour. He was thinking of Grace and home when he thought he heard someone about fifty feet behind him yell the word "fag." He suddenly wished he'd accepted that ride home. _You're being ridicules_ he told himself _you're not even sure that's what they said._ Then he heard again, and this time he was sure. He reached for his cell phone, but before he could find it someone hit him in the back of his head with something. He screamed, then he fell and the air was knocked out of his lungs so he couldn't scream any more. There was something sharp. Some one kicked him screaming something he didn't bother making out, and then he blacked out. What happened to him after that he thankfully couldn't remember.

• • •

Grace stepped into the doorway of their apartment; everything was dark, not even lit by the lights of the city, yet she could still see. The mangled bodies of Jack, Karen, Will, Nathan, and herself, all lay on the floor. She heard a piercing scream, and flashed her eyes open. She was lying in her bed in the apartment she shared with Will alone.

She turned on the light and got up to make herself some tea. The tea didn't help, and she had a nagging feeling something was wrong. She needed Will. She went into his bedroom only to see his bed already made. She looked at the clock, it was almost three in the morning and it was a weeknight. That was when she knew something was wrong. Will never got home much past midnight except on weekends, and even then he usually told her before he went out, or he'd call. She played the messages – nothing. She called his cell-phone, it rang but there was no answer; that wasn't like Will either, he'd either turn the thing off or answer it. Suddenly she was scared, the dream, Will not home and not answering his phone…

She called Karen, who she knew was awake and whatever Karen said the opposite was probably true, which made her quite useful at times. "Honey what are doing calling me at this hour?" Karen asked.

"I knew you'd be up." Grace answered.

"It's not me I'm thinking of. I doubt you'd stay up past 10."

"I was asleep, but I can't find Will."

"You'll have to explain that one tomorrow, but I'll bet he's out having fun like the rest of us."

"Really? It's a week night Karen." Grace said skeptical.

"Give it up…"

"Karen I'm going to go find him."

"You're nuts. In your neighborhood?"

"I just can't stand the thought that he's…"

"Whatever. I'm busy honey. Got ta go."

"Bye Karen." Grace said add hung up the phone.

She splashed some cool water on her face, grabbed a hair band, through on some clothes, got a small backpack and tossed a first aid kit, water, a blanket, some money for coffee or breakfast, and Wills car keys in and was out the door in no more than five minuets.

• • •

Will was cold, his head hurt… Hell, everything hurt. He couldn't remember… He opened his eyes slowly and saw himself in a dark alleyway. He reached for his cell-phone but he was too weak and it hurt too much to move. At first he tried to go back to sleep but was so scared and alone. There was nothing else he could do, he started crying, and once he started he couldn't stop…

• • •

Grace ran in front of the building looking in all directions. When she got to the first alley way she took out her flashlight and looked down it. Nothing. She kept running. She something was reflected in the street light, and she bent over to pick it up. It was a picture of her, Will, and Nathan. She stuck it in her pocket and kept running, she heard whimpering noises in the distance and she ran faster, as she was running she saw shards of broken glass on the side walk. She had never run so fast in her life, it was only a matter of seconds before she was at Wills side. She gasped as soon as she saw him. There were shards of glass everywhere between where the bottle apparently broke and where he was lying. His face was coved in blood and tears, he was shivering, and she saw some blood on the side walk next to his back. She didn't think; she just kept running till she was at his side.

"Grac…?" He muttered in disbelief to weak to finish the word.

"Yes, it's me. You're going to be OK." She said, although she had no idea about the second part. She reached for his phone and dialed 911 before she did anything else. She put his head in her lap and threw the blanket over him. Then she took out the first aid kit and rubbed the blood off his forehead with a clean gaze pad. She gasped when she saw the letters F, A, G, written on his forehead in blood, probably with a piece of broken glass. She put some disinfectant on it and bandaged the wound. She thought about doing the same with the cuts on his back, but she'd have to turn him over and take off his sweeter… It would have to wait till they were at the hospital. She sat and held his hand as they waited.

When the ambulance came Grace was unbelievably relived to see someone who knew what they were doing take care of Will. "Are you all right mam?" One of the paramedics asked her.

"I'm Fine." She answered out of breath and clearly disturbed. "Is he…?"

"The injuries seem to be mostly external. He should recover. Do you know him?"

"Yes, he's my best friend and roommate." She said.

As they got in the ambulance he asked her "Did you see this happen?"

"No, I had a nightmare and when I saw he wasn't home and wasn't answering his phone I knew something was wrong. I have no idea how or what…"

"Calm down. Everything is going to be OK." He said as they stepped into the ambulance. "Do you know who his medical guardian is?" she saw one of the paramedics giving Will a shot, probably medication for the pain.

"It's me." She answered.

"This was obviously intentional, do you intend to press charges?"

"Yes." She answered with no doubts in her mind.

• • •

Grace sat in a chair in the waiting room. A police officer came to her. "Are you Grace Adler?"

"Yes."

"Can you tell me what happened tonight?"

"Yes, I woke up at around three in the morning because I had a nightmare I couldn't…" She paused and pinched herself to see that she wasn't still asleep. It hurt so she was pretty sure she was awake.

"Are you OK?" He asked.

"Just checking to make sure this wasn't all just a nightmare."

"I'm afraid it's quite real mam. I'm sorry about what happened." Grace nodded. "Can you continue?"

"Yes. I went into Wills room, and he wasn't home yet. He told me he'd be home at midnight, and it was a weeknight so the fact that he wasn't in bed was extremely strange. I called his cell-phone. He never leaves it on when he doesn't intended to answer it, and he usually calls if he's going to be that late. It rang and no one answered. I was worried something happened."

"What did you do?"

"I got dressed, and packed a backpack with a first aid kit, blanket, car keys etc."

"How did you know he was injured?"

"I didn't really it was the dream. You know how you can wake up from a nightmare out of sorts and taking everything... I wasn't going to feel alright untill I found him."

"You said you took car keys, did you have a vehicle with you when you found him?"

"No. I checked our block first, if I didn't find him there then I was going to get in the car and see if could find at the restaurant he told me he'd be at, or find some one who knew where he was. I walked or ran down the block, and saw the broken glass and heard someone crying; when I got closer I knew it was him. I used his cell phone to call 911. Then I put the blanket over him and tried to treat the cut on his forehead. When I cleaned it off I realized someone had written the word fag on face." She couldn't say it with out choking on her words. At the time she had been able to keep herself together for his sake, but he was being taken care of and she couldn't do it any more. "I never thought this would be happening to me. I've heard about stuff like this happing, but, I never thought it would happen to someone I loved. I never…" There were tears running down her face, she couldn't speak any more.

"Ms. Adler are you alright?"

She shook her head no. Thinking about it make her sick, and she got and went to the washroom before she threw up.

Grace reached for one the disposable tooth brushes they kept there, probably for this occasion. "Mam are you aright?" One of the doctors said putting her hand on Graces forehead.

"I'm not sick." Grace answered pushing her away. "Just upset."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"No." She answered. All she wanted to do was pretend this wasn't happening, not to her, not Will, not here, not now. "My best friend was almost killed because he's gay. He's more than my best friend. Do you really think I want to talk about it?" she snapped.

"Make sure you take care of your self as well."

"I'm not thinking about me…"

"You should be thinking of both of you." She said. Grace left with out responding.

• • •

When she returned the nurse told her "Will wants to speak to you."

"What's his condition?" Asked Grace.

"He had a concussion, a few broken ribs, 20 stitches, and he's lost a lot of blood; you probably saved his life."

"It was that bad?" Grace asked horrified. The woman nodded sympathetically.

Grace sat down next to Will, his face was still a little gray but it wasn't anything compared to the last time she saw him. "How do you feel?" She asked.

"What planet am I on?" He responded his voice was soft almost a whisper.

"The pain medication?" She asked.

"Probably." He muttered.

"What did they tell you?" Grace asked.

"That you saved my life. That I was attacked and my wallet was left alone."

"How much do you remember?"

"Hearing someone behind me scream fag. Being hit. Waking up and knowing I was going to die, then seeing you…"

"Jesus, Will… Did they tell you about the cut on your forehead?"

"Yes, I asked."

"Oh sweetie…" She said, taking his hand and working to hold back tears.

"Stay with me Gracie…"

"Of course." She answered with out hesitation, and they sat together for hours in agony and shock.


	2. Chapter 2

CH2 

Grace walked into the half-awake Will's room with his medicine and cup of tea. "How are you doing?"

"Alright I guess." He said with an unspoken 'considering what just happened.' He paused to take the medicine. "Gracie, you can't tell Jack."

"You think it'd affect him that much?" She paused. "He's going to find out. You can't just lie like that. You should know that better than anyone."

"This is different, it goes away."

"Even so."

"I just can't deal with it now. Jack's so… well he's not nearly as sure of himself as he sometimes pretends to be."

"Your worried he'll think he's next?"

"A little, but its more than that… You know Jack's not out to his parents."

"What? But he's out to the rest of the world."

"Yes. Maybe the two things are related. He wants so much to be accepted, but in some ways he's still such a child, he needs his parents acceptance for him to really get past needing them. Sometimes he's just so innocent. He's so… so sensitive and fragile, he doesn't know how to deal with this stuff."

"But what would Jack do when he finds out?"

"I don't know. I owe it him. He saved my life; after you through me out, I thought no one would ever love me… I didn't know how I could live a meaningful life…" He paused.

"Oh Will sweetie," She said.

He continued. "He talked me out of killing myself, and he helped me realize that I'm OK, that life is worth living. It's the same reason we never talk about that year. Jack can be so innocent."

"Why don't we talk about it?" She asked.

"Because I don't want you to know what you put me through." He said totally honestly. "Because you never asked."

The phone rang. "I'm going back to sleep." Will said as she walked out to get the phone hesitating as she left.

When Grace picked up the phone and it was Ben's, Wills boss's voice on the other line. "Is Will there?" He said sternly.

"He's sleeping." Grace said, her voice shaking.

"What the hell is going on? Why wasn't he at work yesterday?"

"He was the victim of a hate crime." Grace said trying to compose herself. "He was released from the hospital early this morning."

"Holy fuck." Then taking a few minutes to compose himself Ben said, "How is he doing?"

"OK, I think. He's on a lot of pain medication."

"I'm so sorry Grace. Tell him to take all the time he needs, paid leave."

"Thank you." She said.

"Grace are you OK?"

"I want to watch the people who did this burn in hell after I kill them myself."

"Just don't do anything stupid." He said.

"I won't. What about Woolchuck?"

"Do you think he had any thing to do with this?" He asked.

"No, well not really. I'm mostly worried about when Will goes back to work."

"I know he and Will have issues and that he can be a real ignorant bastard. If he's anything less than respectful and helpful it'll be the last time anyone at this firm sees him." He said.

"Thank you." She said.

"Is there anything else I can do? If you figure out who did this and hire a hit man I'll pay for your lawyer." He told her.

"I just might take you up on that." She answered.

"Well, bye Grace." He said and hung up.

Grace stumbled down to the couch and passed out from exhaustion; she'd slept three of the last thirty hours.

• • •

"What happened honey, switched to my hours?" Karen asked tapping her on the shoulder.

"Karen?"

"Yes Grace it's me. That's the 2nd day in a row you weren't at work."

"And you were?" Grace asked sarcastically.

"Yes. I figured I'd check your place before I figured you'd just ditched me, moved out of the city or something. Would you mind telling me what the hell is up with you?"

"It's Will. You remember I called you the other night?"

"Well sort of. I was pretty loaded. Honey are OK?"

"I'm fine." She lied. "Will was attacked and badly injured. We spent like 24 hours in the hospital and he's still in a lot of pain."

"Attacked?" Karen asked doing something between sitting and falling; there was no color left in her face except her makeup.

"He passed out after some hit him on the head with a beer bottle. Then they wrote fag on his forehead with a piece of broken glass dragged him into an ally and left him there."

"Jack?" Karen asked.

"He doesn't know and Will wants to keep it that way. Will said something about him being innocent."

"Wow, he's on something strong." Karen commented. "Do you have any idea who?"

"Well I found this picture…" Grace said and pulled out the picture of her, Will & Nathan.

"You think Nathan had something to do with this?"

"Don't know. But I'm going to talk to him."

"Whatever. Honey, you smell like kitty litter. I'll take care of Will while you shower."

"Thank you." Grace said, taking her up on the offer. "You know how right?"

"Yeah, call Rosie if he wakes up."

"And while you wait for her to come?"

"Do her job." Karen answered.

"Good." Grace said relived that she was serious.

When Grace got out of the bathroom she saw only Rosario in the apartment. "Where's Karen?"

"She went out. She didn't seem well."

"Did she tell you?" Grace said.

"What? That Will was hurt?"

"How?" Grace said.

"Hit by a car?"

"No, but I don't want to talk about it."

"Are you well?" She asked Grace.

"I'm worried…"

"Gracie?" Wills voice.

Grace ran in to see him. "Will?"

"Can you get me some juice?"

"Of course." She said and ran to get it for him.

"Is that Rosie and Karen?" Will asked when she returned.

Grace nodded. "She came to see why I wasn't at work. When I told her she almost passed out."

"There is a silver lining to everything." Will said sarcastically making Grace laugh.

"Grace!" Karen yelled knocking on the door.

"What?" Grace asked opening the door.

"I got you breakfast and coffee." Karen answered.

"Thank you Karen." Grace said. Taking the bag and the huge cup of Starbucks, "that was very thoughtful." She turned and winked at Will, he laughed because Karen being thoughtful was like a pigeon giving a person a piece of bread before they ate it.

"Oww." He said, the back of his neck had been badly bruised and moving his head quickly to laugh hurt.

"Will sweetie, are you OK?" Grace asked running to his side.

"Yeah. When can I take more of the pain medication?"

Grace looked at her watch. "Half hour." She answered. "Are you hungry?"

"No, I'm a little nauseas. And dizzy, and tired…"

"If you want to go back to sleep…"

"Mumhum."

"OK, I'll be in the other room, call if you need me."

"Of course Gracie."

Grace slowly closed the door behind her as she left.

"Karen, do you know anything about the time between when Will and I broke up and when we met again?"

"You mean when Jack and Will were well…" Karen answered.

"What?" Asked Grace.

"Will was a mess. For the first month or so he was in shock. Every time anyone would mention something that brought the subject up he'd look like he was going to pass out. Then he tried to kill himself by taking half a bottle of aspirin. Jack caught him, took the bottle and stayed with him all night – after they got back from the hospital. The first time Jack took him to a gay club Will had a shit-load of alcohol and three ecstasy pills behind his back. They ended up in the emergency room again but Will doesn't remember it and we've had no reason to remind him. The worst of it was when he became a republican for a month. He was so confused it was pathetic. Jack could get so fed up with him; he'd say things he didn't mean about Jack and himself, really nasty stuff. I couldn't understand why Jack put up with it, he kept trying to tell me but Will wouldn't let him. Will couldn't do it, he made himself sick. One of his conservative friends asked him what was wrong, he came out to them told them and to go to hell. That was the begging of the Will we know."

"Will, a republican? Is that possible?"

"Yeah honey, it was pretty sad. And it literally made him sick so I'd say it isn't really possible. I don't think he'd do that again for a million bucks."

"Why didn't I know about any of this?" Grace asked.

"Because you, well you…"

"All right I get it. I was a real jerk at the time."

Karen continued with her story. "Then Will met Michel and you again, I think you know the story from there."

Grace nodded and changed the subject "Karen I'm going into work tomorrow afternoon, can you stay with Will?"

"Of course."

"You absolutely can't tell Jack what happed."

"I get it." Karen said.


	3. Chapter 3

**CH3**

"Grace, I'm so sorry. I didn't have anything thing to do with it though." Nathan said over the phone.

"Then explain the picture." Grace demanded.

"I can't, maybe Will had it with him and it fell out of his pocket."

"He doesn't have a copy. Just get your ass to my office."

"20min?" He asked.

"Fine."

• • •

When Grace got back with coffee Nathan was waiting patiently at the door. She let him in and they went up to her office in silence. She showed him the picture. "Oh Shit." He said.

"What?"

"I gave that picture of us to some small town friends of mine. They were staying with me after we broke up."

"You stupid son of a bitch!" She screamed. He sat down looking at the floor. "What the hell made you…?"

"They're the kinda people who could do such a thing. I never thought they would get it in they're head…" Grace picked up a large heavy book and whacked Nathen over the head with it.

"Owwww!" He screamed. "Gracie!"

"I want names, addresses, phone numbers." She demanded.

"Anything. I can't believe the stupid sons of…" He said.

Grace gave him pen & paper and he started writing it down. "Is he OK?" Nathan asked.

"He'll recover." She said not wanting to talk to him. She knew it wasn't really his fault but she was too angry to have anything to do with him.

"Are you OK?" He asked her.

"Why the hell is everybody asking me that? I wasn't the one who… I'm fine."

He handed her the list with six or seven names on it. "Could have been all or any of them. Gracie, I'm so sorry. Is there anything else I can do?"

"Yes, call the police, tell them this, and offer to testify in court."

"Of course. I'll call you when I get more information."

"Good." She answered.

"May I go now?" He asked.

"Fine."

• • •

"Nathan?" Jack asked on his way into Graces office. He nodded. "What happened to you?" He said referring to the large lump on his head.

"Don't worry, I deserved it."

"Grace found out you were cheating on her or something?"

"Worse. It's a long story." Nathan answered.

"K," Jack said. And they both kept walking.

Jack walked into Graces office. "Where's Karen?"

"Out." Grace answered.

Jack took that to mean she was coming back sometime soon so he sat down and Grace sipped her coffee. "Gracie, did you hear about the gay guy that got beat up?"

_Hear about it?_ She thought, _I haven't been thinking about anything else_. "I don't want to talk about it." She said looking at the floor; she couldn't lie to him.

"Why? You don't care."

_How dare you accuse me of not caring. It was my best friend for fuck's sake._ "What the hell make you think that?" she snapped.

"Grace, are you OK?" He asked realizing how agitated she was getting. He thought about it a little, "Grace did you know him? A friend of Will's?" He asked his tone more sympathetic. She hadn't made eye contact with him all day and he turned his head to see her face. There were dark circles under her eyes, she was quite pail but had far too much energy to be sick; she was clearly disturbed. She didn't respond to his question.

He thought about it a little more, "Oh, my, god, Grace! It was Will!" He said shocked and out of breath.

Grace nodded, trying to keep herself from crying. He put his arms around her, to both stabilize himself and comfort her. "Gracie." He said softly. "Is he OK?"

"For now, the doctors put him on powerful pain medication for the first couple days."

"Did Nathan…?" Jack asked.

Grace answered before he finished the question. "Not really, some of his friends…" She started crying.

"Gracie, are you OK?" Jack asked.

"No. No, I'm not. This whole fucking thing was my fault; I was the one who first got involved with Nathan…"

"Gracie, it's not your fault. It's nobodies fault except the people who did it."

"But…"

"No buts…" He said.

"Jack, I'm just so worried about Will. I can't believe this is happing."

"Why didn't anyone tell me about this?" He asked.

"Will told us not to." She answered.

"Karen knows too?" Jack asked.

Grace nodded. "She and Rosario are taking care of him now. He was worried about you. He's trying to protect you."

"Oh, Gracie." He said softly. They stayed and held each other both of them crying.

"Oh Jack, I'm so confused. I'm scared and angry and hurt and I feel so guilty because I feel like this is all my fault. And I'm so angry I feel guilty for being scared… And so alone…"

"What are you scared of?"

"Of what this could do to Will, and that something like this might happen again."

"It's no more likely to happen now than it was a week ago… The difference is that now you know it can happen. As for Will he's been through more than you know, he'll be OK. You're not alone Grace, we are all here for you both, we care about you and Will."

"Thank you Jack, I needed to hear that. I need to go home, walk with me."

"Of course." He answered.


	4. Conclusion

Due to overwhelming evidence of the crime, Grace and Nathan's testimony, and later a confession from one of the participants who gave the names of the others they were all sentence to seven to ten years in jail for assault and hate crimes. We are all, gay and straight together, hurt by this prejudice. Grace, Jack, and Karen were hurt by seeing what it did to a friend, and Will was physically injured. Both Jack and Will have been affected by it emotionally in many ways, and if you look at your own life I'm sure you can find the effects of homophobia as well; if you can not because you don't know anyone who is GLBT (Gay Lesbian Bisexual Transgender) then that alone is evidence of it.

**Authors Note:**

I'm a lesbian from Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, and since I wrote this some of my friends have been the victims of GLBT focused hate crimes. The gay community in Pittsburgh is very small and we all know each other, when something happens to one of us it affects us all. I was hoping I could give some sense of how hate crimes cause pain far beyond the one person they hurt. If you are straight and reading this then I hope I've shown you a little bit of what homophobia can do to people, and for those of you who are GLBT and reading this I want you to know that you are not alone. I wrote this several years ago and I went back re-upload it (now that I'm no longer on Mac the document isn't full of computer errors like it was before) and I made some basic editing changes. Now that I'm a college student my writing skills have improved significantly compared to when I wrote this in tenth grade. If I can find the time to work on this further I may update and/or extend it more.


End file.
